Chapter thirty-two:

"

This is the example.

The town where you had the mission was, above all, very industrialized. The buildings, the lights, the people's clothes; it was as if you had been transported into a different world. Your crow, whose name you'd learnt was Mugen, pulled your sleeve every time you got distracted with a colorful shop. Focus was key.

The problem was that you had to speak to people in order to get more meaningful leads. And you were too shy to ask around, much less would you just go up to someone and ask "Good evening, sir. Have you seen a demon around here?".

Your hands were sweating with the thought of talking to anyone. Your crow had even grown tired of your attitude and flew away. It was getting darker, and the crowd of people was getting thinner, but the amount of nervousness inside you remained.

In times like those, you had to focus on what was important, which was slaying a demon, not your feelings. That's why the (cute) face of your stoic master kept popping up in the back of your mind. Closing your eyes and taking in a deep breath, your heart began to calm down. When you opened them again, your fists clenched to gather mental strength.

Searching around without moving from your spot next to a closed candy store, your eyes met a young police officer. He was smoking a cigarette, his eyes were a deep green and he had the face of a baby, rather childish features.

Perfect.

Months ago, three weeks before the selection, Muichiro had forced you to face the outside world. He knew that his tsuguko would be too anxious to gather clues from people, so he gave you tips on how to approach a situation like the one you were in right now.

"First, you look for someone who looks stupid, or naive. Because smart people would probably ignore you since they have better things to do" Muichiro said, making sure that you nodded to confirm that you understood before continuing "You're good with kids, apparently, so you can ask them too. And if you see a police officer who looks young, ask them first. They know a lot about the situation and since they're noobs, they might as well just fall for any cute girl they see."

You tilted you head, a bit confused by the last past. Muichiro had joined the palms of his hands together as he explained, gesturing with them as if he were explaining something easy to a little kid.

"Are you telling me to flirt with them...?"

Muichiro's eyes widened. "No!"

You let out a relieved sigh, your hands joined together over your chest as you did so.

"No? Oh thank God, I wouldn't be able to do that anyway!"

It was time to follow your master's advice. You made your way up to the police officer, he must've been around his early twenties, but he looked much younger than that. It should be noted that you weren't able to look at him in the eye, of course. You just stared at the nothingness while attempting to speak, but it was a little bit too hard and your heart weighted again.

He blinked several times, shifting from his previous position of supporting his side on a street light pole, to straightening up at the sight of you right in front of him.

"Miss? Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, I-I mean, no!" you stuttered, unconsciously caressing your hair in a reflex of your anxiety "I... I can't find my fiancé"

The man raised an eyebrow.

"Fiancé?"

"Y-yes... h-he's been missing for a couple days now and I'm so worried"

"Oh, that's too bad. Do you want to accompany me to the station to report his disappearance?"

No no no no no. That would mean more people would stare at me! And I don't have time for that!

"No! P-please, I, umm, Tokito-sama and I just got engaged, I know he wouldn't run off... or get kidnapped."

"Isn't he your fiancé? Why are you calling him so formally?"

Your eyes widened as your breathing froze. You were so used to calling Muichiro formally, by his last name, because he was your master. The inquisitive eyes of the young police officer made your hands sweat more, your mind panicked.

"I-It was an arranged marriage! We just met but I'm very much in love with him"

Now stop asking questions, idiot. I'm just trying to find a demon here. Geez.

Due to the pressure you felt against your chest, you had a hard time keeping your tears from falling. You seriously weren't good against judging eyes. The young man's expression changed to a more alarmed one when he saw you tearing up. His hands waved desperately in front of you as his mind worked to find out what to say in order to keep you from crying.

Oh. This is my chance, this is what Tokito-sama was talking about.

You sobbed twice, while your hands didn't wait to hide your face.

"I'm so sorry, I just..." you sobbed, "I heard rumors about taken men going missing lately..."

"Oh! Yes, but you have nothing to worry about! We're doing the best we can to catch the killer."

"Killer?!" you asked pretending to be alarmed, the man took a step back at your reaction and seemed guilty about saying that.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that... does your fiancé usually walk around the chairo avenue? That's where most of the men have gone missing"

Gotcha!

While you were hiding your face with your hands, you allowed yourself to grin. Now you just had to go kill the demon, which ironically was the easy part of the mission.

"No. W-well, you know what? I just remembered that he's in a coma and that's why he isn't picking up my calls. Anyway, thank you so much for your help. Have a great evening!" you said in a rush, not waiting to see his reaction and just running away, leaving the police officer dumbfounded.

『 °*• ❈ •*°』

It took you exactly fifteen minutes to find the demon. She was a tall female with a single horn on a side of her head and legs shaped like a frog. Her long tongue stood out. Your dominant hand reached the handle of your sword tentatively.

It was dark, and so the demon hadn't noticed the presence of another female in the street, since her gray eyes were settled on a man who was whistling and probably on his way home.

The demon might've had a blood demon art, but you didn't care. She'd be dead before showing it anyway.

"Breath of mist, six form: Lunar Dispersing Mist"

Dim lights of the poles flickered, the sound of the man's whistle echoed, followed by two loud thuds. Just as the man disappeared through the street, the demon's brows furrowed, she was fuming with anger.

"W-what?! What the hell?!"

Both of her arms were missing. They were scattered on the floor among a pool of crimson blood.

"You're not a man! Why are you butting into my bussiness?"

"You seem to hold a grudge against men. Did your husband cheat on you or something?" your tone was rather sarcastic, but the demon only seemed to get angrier. Your eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh, so I was right?"

"Shut up!"

She tried to attack you, but you swiftly dodged it without any problem. It was as natural as dancing, moving from one side to another dodging every single attack from the angered female.

"Tsk, tsk. That's not a good reason for killing innocents who had nothing to do with your trash of an ex husband." you said, with a severe expression as if you were looking down on her.

"What do you know?! All men are the same! They deserve to be punished! I'm sure that even your boyfriend would just leave you for someone better, they all do!"

Although you refused to hear what she had to say, those words echoed inside your mind. It was true that, now that you had passed the selection, the possibility of your master leaving you was high. You were still his tsuguko, but he didn't have as much obligation to care for you as before.

Shaking the thoughts out of your head, you sighed, before swinging your blade to cut her head with a single slash.

The head of the demon rolled to your feet. You knelt down in front of her, shock present in her face.

"H-How the fuck did you—?"

The demon froze. She was full of puzzlement about missing her body and you kneeling there, resting your cheek on the palm of your hand.

"A-ah..." the demon let out a cry, her tears started to flow uncontrollably, as she recalled the events leading up to her becoming that horrid creature.

Your severe stare softened, letting out another tired sigh and closing your eyes.

"I'm sorry. You didn't deserve what happened to you, nobody does. I... I hope that you're happy in the afterlife, and find someone who truly loves you and is loyal to you."

As the demon became ashes, you gave her a small smile.

"Thank you..."

The air took her ashes away, but at the very least, you could make out her sad small before she completely disappeared.

『 °*• ❈ •*°』

Though it was around 2am, the mist estate's lights were on. Muichiro's heart weighted a ton and he couldn't sleep, so he had decided to wait for you facing the door and drinking earl tea one sip at a time. He heard light steps and the door creaking. His gaze was fixated on your form as you entered the house and closed the door; his dead expression startled you once you turned around to get deeper into the house.

"Tokito-sama, you're awake?"

"What took you so long...?" he asked almost in a whisper, so your ears couldn't completely comprehend those words. Shaking his head slowly and closing his eyes, he spoke in a higher tone "How did the mission go?"

Out of all the things that you could've said, like how you remembered his advice and fooled a police officer, or how the demon had thanked you before disappearing, or even how easy it was for you to cut her head off; your brain could think of none but a single statement that had engraved on your brain.

Muichiro noticed your distress. He tilted his head to silently allow you to voice your thoughts. Your lips were pursed, tightened, about to keep you from saying something stupid.

"Don't cheat on me, please"

Muichiro blinked, dumbfounded, at your ridiculous statement. For one, you two weren't anything, and two, why would you even consider cheating a possibility in the first place.

"M-my heart can't take it..."

The boy straightened his head as his eyes widened when he saw you start crying dramatically, sobbing uncontrollably. In situations like those, Muichiro would cup your face and make you stare into his eyes, and that's exactly what he did. Although you were too busy drying your tears to look at him.

"You won't replace me with any other tsuguko, right?"

«Oh. So that's what she meant by cheating.»

To answer your question, he nodded, voicing an affirmative hum.

«I only need you»

Make her the happiest person in the world"